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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
never gets beyond third gear., 15 Jan 2008
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Programme (What's this?)
My initial impressions of this album was very favourable, I'd heard some snippets of Cowboy Junkies music online at their website and took the plunge.
This package comes as a DVD and CD, the DVD was filmed in one day at the Holy Trinity Church (as in the title) in Toronto - I watched the DVD but didn't listen to the CD for reasons that will become clear. The DVD is atmospheric with all the musicians arranged in a spaced out rough circle to face each other with very effective back-lighting
The musical style is a balladic cross of soft Folk, gentle Country and general Chill-Out (apologies to purists who would describe it better). The first track is haunting and sang a cappella (which perhaps was a conscious decision considering the church setting, as (according to my dictionary) it means 'according to the style of the chapel'). This set me up to really look forward to the rest of the album.
At first it is beautiful to listen to but after half a dozen songs that are like variations on a similar theme it becomes a bit repetitive. The musicians all play deftly but just at the moments when I thought they were about to step the music up a gear or two... it carried on just being the same. Consequently this album gets up to but never beyond third gear.
I like Ballads, and Folk, and Country, but the tempo through the album ought to vary to keep the interest. Sadly, this album, as nicely performed as it is - suffers from being stuck at a permanent Chill-Out level which ultimately left me feeling unsatisfied.
Perhaps if you've had a heavy night clubbing this would be a good antidote. Either that or listen to individual tracks separately instead of all together.
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Pretty nice and a good DVD too, but is it worth it?, 2 Jan 2008
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Programme (What's this?)
I bought the original Trinity album back in 1988 when it introduced the world to the Cowboy Junkies. And I've never really liked anything else they've done better. Like many I was intrigued by the simplicity of the recording: one microphone, so everything done 'live' with no overdubs or multi-tracking. Play it through a good hi-fi and you could hear the building as well as the music.
I decided to compare old and new back to back.
They've done exactly the same tracks on the new album, and in the same order. If you were hoping for a bonus track or two, you'll be disappointed, but the DVD compensates. More of this later.
So, let's take a track like Postcard Blues, always a favourite on the original. The single microphone magically creates a 'sound hologram' of the Toronto church it's recorded in. Shut your eyes and you can almost see the space, with the band somewhere in the middle of it. This track is spookily minimalist, with a drum tap like footsteps pacing around Margot Timmins' breathy vocals, and a harmonica solo that makes your hair stand on end when it comes in. It's still great.
The new one is completely different. Put it on straight after the original and the space vanishes while the band grows in size to fill it. It's like zooming in to just the band. The footsteps are gone too, as is the harmonica. The new version sounds fairly ordinary in comparison, but you wait for Margot to come in...
And she doesn't, because this is one of the tracks sung by a guest, in this case Vic Chesnutt. Hmm. I guess you either like his trembly old man vocals or you don't. For my money, he hogs far too much of the limelight on this album. He's on at least two other tracks.
Natalie Merchant does a bit better, and I quite like her rather quavery version of To Love Is To Bury. But it's not the Cowboy Junkies' sound. If you think Margot's vocals are an intrinsic part of the CJ sound, you could be frustrated by the guests, although Ryan Adams does a great turn, I must admit. Shame they didn't get just him.
The story is the same throughout the album: the sound is different and the guests intrude somewhat, apart from Ryan. Some may prefer the sound of course - it's certainly sharper and gutsier, a bit louder and rockier too, but is it better?
But, but, but. There's the DVD too, so don't give up hope. The DVD is really good and rescues the package. There's a bunch of stuff about setting up the recording (and you'll notice the 'one microphone' trick has gone out of the window with a vengeance. The Junkies sit around and talk about the good old days, and it's all very much what you'd expect. All twelve songs are on the video too and it looks great, with shafts of light apparently streaming from the stained glass into the dark interior.
As others have mentioned, the packaging for this album is really nice: it's like a little book in a hard cover, with a disc in a pocket at each end and a nice booklet stitched into the middle. If more albums were as neat as this, it would make people think twice about just downloading the music.
So full marks for that, but a mark or two off for the guests and for changing the sound without improving it. Still, if you're a fan, the DVD will make it all worthwhile. If you don't have the original album though, maybe get that instead of this.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Great Junkies, disappointing guests, 24 Oct 2007
The previous reviewer pretty well summed up my ambivalent feelings about this disk. Having seen the band doing the Trinity Sessions at the Royal Albert Hall before hearing this, I was wary of the contributions of the guests to the reworking of the album. It takes prodigious talent to sing with Margo Timmins and both Thea Gilmore (in concert) and Natalie Merchant and Vic Chestnutt (on disk) fail to connect with her inimitable vocals. I just wanted to hear Timmins and everytime one of the guests began a verse or chorus I winced. Blue Moon Revisited and Misguided Angel are such a beautiful showcases for Timmins, but the songs are stopped in their tracks by the guest vocals. Their contributions are so jarring, it's like a needle scratching across vinyl. Only Ryan Adams, much to my surprise, seems to be a sweet counterpart to Timmins at times. Nonetheless, there are far too many vocal contributions from guests on this disk. That said, the band are in beautiful form and a joy to listen to. It was a great idea to revisit The Trinity Sessions, but Timmins should have sung it on her own.
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